1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of ash removal and receiving devices.
2. Prior Art
There are many known devices used to remove ashes from a furnace, either while the furnace is being used or when it is cold. Generally speaking, the ash removal devices are either fixed or portable. Fixed devices include those that employ an auger device built into the furnace structure to transport the ashes from inside a furnace to outside the furnace. U.S. Pat. Nos. 426,038 (Miles); 1,039,352 (Bernotowicz); Re: 18,006 (Hall); 2,121,229 (Halter); 2,248,206 (Suman); 2,558,626 (Pfau); and 2,637,285 (Getz), for example, show such structures. The devices shown in these patents are permanently mounted with respect to furnaces and generally the ashes of the furnace simply fall into the auger and are transported out of the furnace by rotation of the auger in conjunction with a stationary auger housing. Various drive means are used to rotate the auger. The churning of the auger flights may cause loose dust within the firebox that may interfere with proper burning of the fire. Such resulting dust may be passed out the furnace stack to create enviornmental problems in the surrounding area. With these fixed auger structures, the firebox of the furnace must have a special configuration to divert the ash onto the auger.
Previously known portable ash removing devices have utilized a wide variety of pails, scoops, shovels and pans, none of which are entirely suitable in handling the dust developed during use of the devices. Also, they are generally quite slow to use and require multiple operations on the part of the user. In using these devices it is often possible to drop the hot cinders being collected. See U.S. Pats. Nos. 33,058 (Walker); 767,648 (Korjibsky); 1,767,312 (Russell); 4,411,253 (Devin); 4,416,252 (Blank, Jr.); 4,305,376; and 4,497,308 (Johnson).
It has been found that a hand held ash auger such as that disclosed in the present invention is preferable for many uses and that it is readily adapted to use with all types of furnaces and heaters while being particularly useful with the usual open, built-in fireplaces, free-standing fireplaces and fireplace inserts used to achieve more efficient room and house heating.